"I ain't tryin' to do nothin', Freckles. I'm just hitchin' a ride back up to my room." Those are the words that come out of his mouth, but the ones he don't say are a little more honest. Those are the ones that go so what's so bad about spending more time with me? I know, it's the scruff, right? Well, I ain't gonna shave much 'cause what if we get sent back to the island? How am I gonna explain that to Broken Nose Man? Ask him if his damn polar bears ever figured out about shavin' their faces, see how he likes that. They go on from there, and a lot of the thoughts get more complicated now. For instance, as they step into the elevator, he remembers her askin' if he was lookin' at her ass and of course he was, and he is now, too, and if he had the right strength in both his legs he might just grab that nice-lookin' ass and lift her up and let her wrap her legs around him. He'd like that.

She'd probably like that too, but he ain't gonna do it.

Not today. Automatically, he pushes the buttons for both the third and the fourth floor. What if he'd only pushed to go to the fourth floor? Would she have thought maybe he was tryin' to tell her somethin'?

Damn dangerous relationship business. When there's no angle except the honest one and no con in mind, how the hell's a man supposed to know where thingss are gonna go?